Research suggests that more and more American university students think they are something special. High self-esteem is generally regarded as a good thing – but could too much of it actually make you less successful?

About nine million young people have filled out the American Freshman Survey, since it began in 1966.

It asks students to rate how they measure up to their peers in a number of basic skills areas – and over the past four decades, there has been a dramatic rise in the number of students who describe themselves as being "above average" for academic ability, drive to achieve, mathematical ability and self-confidence.

This was revealed in a new analysis of the survey data, by US psychologist Jean Twenge and colleagues.

Self-appraisals of traits that are less individualistic – such as co-operativeness, understanding others and spirituality – saw little change, or a decrease, over the same period.

Self-esteem and confidence

Psychologists rarely use the word confidence. They have separate measures for:

self-esteem – the value people place on themselves

narcissism – definitions vary, but essentially a negative, destructive form of high self-esteem

self-efficacy – the ability to achieve personal goals

Twenge adds that while the Freshman Survey shows that students are increasingly likely to label themselves as gifted in writing ability, objective test scores indicate that actual writing ability has gone down since the 1960s.

And while in the late 1980s, almost half of students said they studied for six or more hours a week, the figure was little over a third by 2009 – a fact that sits rather oddly, given there has been a rise in students' self-proclaimed drive to succeed during the same period.

Another study by Twenge suggested there has been a 30% tilt towards narcissistic attitudes in US students since 1979.

Though some have argued that narcissism is an essential trait, Twenge and her colleagues see it as negative and destructive.

In The Narcissism Epidemic, co-written with Keith Campbell, Twenge blames the growth of narcissistic attitudes on a range of trends – including parenting styles, celebrity culture, social media and access to easy credit, which allows people to appear more successful than they are.

"What's really become prevalent over the last two decades is the idea that being highly self-confident – loving yourself, believing in yourself – is the key to success.

"Now the interesting thing about that belief is it's widely held, it's very deeply held, and it's also untrue."

Find out more

This bewitching idea – that people's lives will improve with their self-esteem – led to what came to be known as The Self-Esteem Movement.

Legions of self-help books have propagated the idea that we each have it within us to achieve great things – we just need to be more confident.

Over 15,000 journal articles have examined the links between high self-esteem and measurable outcomes in real life, such as educational achievement, job opportunities, popularity, health, happiness and adherence to laws and social codes.

Yet there is very little evidence that raising self-esteem leads to tangible, positive outcomes.

"If there is any effect at all, it is quite small," says Roy Baumeister of Florida State University. He was the lead author of a 2003 paper that scrutinised dozens of self-esteem studies.

All about me, me, me…

In a recent paper Jean Twenge examined changes in pronoun use in American books published between 1960 and 2008, using the Google Books ngram database

She found that first person plural pronouns (we, us our etc.) decreased in use by 10% while first person singular pronouns (I, me, my etc.) increased in use by 42%

He found that although high self-esteem frequently had a positive correlation with success, the direction of causation was often unclear. For example, are high marks awarded to people with high self-esteem or does getting high marks engender high self-esteem?

And a third variable can influence both self-esteem and the positive outcome.

"Coming from a good family might lead to both high self-esteem and personal success," says Baumeister.

"Self-control is much more powerful and well-supported as a cause of personal success. Despite my years invested in research on self-esteem, I reluctantly advise people to forget about it."

Am I a narcissist?

This doesn't mean that under-confident people will be more successful in school, in their careers or in sport.

"You need to believe that you can go out and do something but that's not the same as thinking that you're great," says Twenge. She gives the example of a swimmer attempting to learn a turn – this person needs to believe that they can acquire that skill, but a belief that they are already a great swimmer does not help.

Forsyth and Kerr studied the effect of positive feedback on university students who had received low grades (C, D, E and F). They found that the weaker students actually performed worse if they received encouragement aimed at boosting their self-worth.

"An intervention that encourages [students] to feel good about themselves, regardless of work, may remove the reason to work hard," writes Baumeister.

So do young people think they are better than they are?

If they are, perhaps the appropriate response is not condemnation but pity.

The narcissists described by Twenge and Campbell are often outwardly charming and charismatic. They find it easy to start relationships and have more confidence socially and in job interviews. Yet their prognosis is not good.

How self-esteem become a movement

The Self-Esteem Movement is said to have its roots in the civil rights movement, which promoted group solidarity – but also the rights of individuals to be who they want

A series of seminars were held in the 1960s on achieving happiness and fulfilment by tapping inner potential – it was called The Human Potential Movement

First popular book on self-esteem published in 1969 – The Psychology of Self-Esteem by psychologist Nathaniel Branden

Werner Erhard (above) held sessions aimed at boosting self-esteem in US prisons in the 1970s – there were similar programmes in the 1980s to try to reduce teen pregnancy rates and crime

Interest is still high – there were more than 40,000 articles about self-esteem in newspapers and magazines between 2002 and 2007

"In the long-term, what tends to happen is that narcissistic people mess up their relationships, at home and at work," says Twenge.

Narcissists may say all the right things but their actions eventually reveal them to be self-serving.

As for the narcissists themselves, it often not until middle age that they notice their life has been marked by an unusual number of failed relationships.

But it's not something that is easy to fix – narcissists are notorious for dropping out of therapy.

"It's a personality trait," says Twenge. "It's by definition very difficult to change. It's rooted in genetics and early environment and culture and things that aren't all that malleable."

Things also don't look good for the many young people who – although not classed as narcissists – have a disproportionately positive self-view.

A 2006 study led by John Reynolds of Florida State University found that students are increasingly ambitious, but also increasingly unrealistic in their expectations, creating what he calls "ambition inflation".

"Since the 1960s and 1970s, when those expectations started to grow, there's been an increase in anxiety and depression," says Twenge.

The news about a video of wedding proposal by Low Taek Jho to Elva Hsiao of Taiwan first hit the local online media in August 2012. A few days or weeks later, the video on Youtube was no longer available and there was a message displayed - "This video is no longer available due to a copyright claim by Taek Jho Low".

This video has resurfaced in Facebook Politicalgags on 20 December 2012.https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=430021427052620

Is Low Taek Jho going to pay $$$ to Facebook to have it removed again?!

"In spite of our differences and tendency to discriminate, we are all human beings. If we keep on discriminating one another – and keep biting like dogs – we would be more like dogs than human beings."

Actually he knows every thing but lying as a propaganda. Just look how he had successfully turned all the Myanmar people over to become ULTRA-NATIONALISTS by purposely giving the false news in the FIRST scenario.

Inspired from an old column in ESPN.com, I now also would like to (and will try my best to) start my own Daily Quickie in this blog.

I am writing this while listening to one of my c0-workers present his paper at my company 2013 planning retreat. The retreat is being held at Sunway Resort Hotel and Spa for 3 days and 2 nights. While other companies held theirs in Bali or Phuket or Tioman, we went to Sunway Resort Hotel and Spa. Belakang rumah. Rafa tentot kat umah Mama Rose pun dengar. Haishh..

But all staff get to bring their families so Azman, Miki and Rafa joined me here last night and we will stay at hotel belakang rumah till Sunday. Later today we are going bowling and tomorrow full day at Sunway Lagoon. Provided all staff achieve the retreat's objectives, which we will. Ehehe.

So I guess it is gonna be fun this weekend at hotel belakang rumah. Will take lots of pics of Rafa and Miki at the Lagoon. Meanwhile this is me and Rafa tak mandi pagi. LOL! Celik2 mata dah camwhore… Have fun peeps! This is Miki's last weekend before he starts school on Monday.

PR! Congrats!!Obviously PR have so much s**t to splash onto BN.How the hell did they unearth an amazing set of heart-pounding info?Real facts or those manufactured, they deserve top marks! Wow..

Now PR is ferociously sharking BN..woohoo!!Adoi! Embarassing betul!

Naturally more blog audiences are literally ecstatic over PR's findings.It's always the Sherlock Holmes investigations that thrilled our minds. BN seemed to be almost gobbled up..i.e. at least in the cyber world.

On the reality side, BN is still winning. Majority of rakyat who are battling day to day survival support BN.PR is too hysterically busy baiting the minds of those voters who are willing to take the bite.

BN is still the rakyat's choice.Call us UMNO totok or kafirs, BN is not doomed yet.PR is the one that is 'syiok sendiri'..dream on guys!

Yes..undoubtedly BN is sadly old and rusty.With proper redemption repairs, BN has another long expiry date to contend with.BN is bitterly tested with many bungles.However, its epic record of developing Malaysia into a country of world class progress must not be disregarded.

After 55 golden years , BN has done so much more goodness than creating damage.BN has got its mission currently going strong, not just because the PRU 13 is in the horizon but its duties towards the rakyat has never wavered.BN deserves the rakyat's intense devotion and loyalty.

And now, PR wants to step in and defeat the BN regime?PR will obviously be busy witch hunting rather than creating brainstorming policies to ease the lives of the general public..especially of the poor to the medium rich.

PR leaders themselves will be so filthy richer in their selfish, comfort zone.No disrespect but that is a surety.

Their incredible master plan..to unlock the 'mysteries' surrounding the government spendings by the BN.And then we rakyat will be eating their reports and revelations everyday.Blood thirsty PR leaders will not stop on getting their years of revenge.

What do we have to agonize next? Will we have more food on our tables?Or massive economic chaos??

It'll be our fault if we suck into the false promises and fixings by the opposition.Our families' future will be more uncertain and scarier than we can ever imagine.

So please Vote for BN..BN has shown us that it's the pillar for the rakyat to lean on.

BN is our true savior in our real world.BN do make us feel comfortable and safe.

It's tough but compared to PR, we cannot quit on BN.We must no matter what it takes, power more reasons to believe in BN.

Award BN with more than two thirds majority this PRU 13.Wake up people!

Our mother ship and beacon of light is still BN..Allow BN to continue its admirable style of less drum beatings, but full of tireless dedication and sincere hard work in running the Malaysian government.

My job nature has given me a training ground to deal with people from various countries around the globe. I have the opportunities to work with people from different culture and different background. Not to say different age and ethnic group.

So many years of dealing with people around the world without seeing their facial expression when communicate with them. I have developed on a skill set to sense on whether they are happy or not happy from the tone of their voice and the way they write the sentence.

Working is working and i found this is much more simple on communication as everything is NOT very much base on the feeling for the judgement. When come to communication with the person closer to you. It's always double the afford to make the communication clear and workable. If we don't communicate properly, there will a risk to trigger unnecessary perception or miss interpretation and it will destroy the rapport or relationship of two or more parties which has built for years.

So do you think communication is important? Especially communicate with those person which we don't see daily...

'We just got word that Stevie is out of surgery and going to be okay.'

'I was wondering where he was. I had a new joke to tell him. What was the surgery about?'

Frannie quickly told Bell Ringer and the other two drivers sitting at his booth about Stevie's surgery then sighed: 'Yeah, I'm glad he is going to be OK,' she said. 'But I don't know how he and his Mom are going to handle all the bills. From what I hear, they're barely getting by as it is.' Bell Ringer nodded thoughtfully, and Frannie hurried off to wait on the rest of her tables. Since I hadn't had time to round up a busboy to replace Stevie and really didn't want to replace him, the girls were busing their own tables that day until we decided what to do.

After the morning rush, Frannie walked into my office. She had a couple of paper napkins in her hand and a funny look on her face.

'What's up?' I asked.

'I didn't get that table where Bell Ringer and his friends were sitting cleared off after they left, and Pony Pete and Tony Tipper were sitting there when I got back to clean it off,' she said. 'This was folded and tucked under a coffee cup.'

She handed the napkin to me, and three $20 bills fell onto my desk when I opened it. On the outside, in big, bold letters, was printed 'Something For Stevie'.

'Pony Pete asked me what that was all about,' she said, 'so I told him about Stevie and his Mom and everything, and Pete looked at Tony and Tony looked at Pete, and they ended up giving me this.' She handed me another paper napkin that had 'Something For Stevie' scrawled on its outside. Two $50 bills were tucked within its folds. Frannie looked at me with wet, shiny eyes, shook her head and said simply: 'Truckers!!'

That was three months ago. Today is Thanksgiving, the first day Stevie is supposed to be back to work.

His placement worker said he's been counting the days until the doctor said he could work, and it didn't matter at all that it was a holiday. He called ten times in the past week, making sure we knew he was coming, fearful that we had forgotten him or that his job was in jeopardy. I arranged to have his mother bring him to work. I then met them in the parking lot and invited them both to celebrate his day back.

Stevie was thinner and paler, but couldn't stop grinning as he pushed through the doors and headed for the back room where his apron and busing cart were waiting.

'Hold up there, Stevie, not so fast,' I said. I took him and his mother by their arms. 'Work can wait for a minute. To celebrate you coming back, breakfast for you and your mother is on me!' I led them toward a large corner booth at the rear of the room.

I could feel and hear the rest

At this point, you can bury this inspirational message or forward it, fulfilling the need!

If you shed a tear, hug yourself, because you are a compassionate person.